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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24876637">Wo ist Will?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/calliopecrash/pseuds/calliopecrash'>calliopecrash</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Solangelo Week 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Dark, M/M, Solangelo Week, Solangelo Week 2020, Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:28:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,594</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24876637</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/calliopecrash/pseuds/calliopecrash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>How could his fourteen year old self have been so foolish? Nico had asked himself that question every single day since that fateful afternoon. If only he’d listened to Will… Will might still be here now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Solangelo Week 2020, Day 3: Sci-fi/fantasy. Inspired by the tv series DARK.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nico di Angelo &amp; Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Solangelo Week 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1798315</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Solangelo Week 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Wo ist Will?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I don't know how popular it is outside of Europe, but I love the German tv series DARK, so that's what this is inspired by. I hope it isn't too confusing!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>23 June, 2020</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>‘Nico, I don’t think it’s safe in there,’ Will said with a frown as they approached the cave. ‘And besides, it’s going to rain soon.’</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>‘Don’t be such a wimp, Solace.’</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>‘I’m not a wimp!’</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>‘Then prove it,’ Nico smirked, gesturing to the cave. ‘By going inside.’</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Will swallowed thickly, but squared his shoulders and took a deep breath.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>‘You’re a jerk, di Angelo.’</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>‘Yeah yeah, whatever,’ Nico retorted, following Will inside. ‘You’ll thank me later when you see how freakin’ awesome this place is.’</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How could his fourteen year old self have been so foolish? Nico had asked himself that question every single day since that fateful afternoon. If only he’d listened to Will… Will might still be here now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When the storm hit, Will had been terrified.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Nico, we’ve got to get out of here!’ He shouted frantically. He tossed the broken flashlight on the ground. ‘Nico!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>‘Will!’</em> He heard his best friend calling back to him, but his voice sounded strangely far away, echoing off the cave walls.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Will! Where are you?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I’m right here!’ Will shouted back. Tears stung his eyes. It wasn’t like he was afraid of the dark, but being lost in a pitch-dark cave in the middle of a storm and not being able to tell where his best friend’s voice was coming from was undeniably frightening. How could Nico even have gotten so far away from him? He’d been standing right beside him when their flashlight died.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘WILL!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nico urgently calling his name was the last thing Will remembered when he woke up on the forest floor, about fifty metres away from the entrance of the cave. He sat up gingerly, brushing dirt from his clothes, and looked around. How long had he been out for? The sky was cloudy but it was undeniably daytime (still? again?), and the ground was dry.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Nico?’ He called out tentatively.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>No answer.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The panic returned. Will knew that Nico wouldn’t have just left him there, unconscious on the ground in the middle of the forest. Which meant that Nico was either still lost, or hurt, or both.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Nico!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He called Nico’s name for what felt like hours, until his voice was hoarse. There was no sign of his best friend anywhere - or anybody else, for that matter.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Finally Will made his way to the side of the road at the edge of the forest, sobbing. He was so scared, and so confused. He pinched himself, hoping this was maybe some sort of horribly realistic, lucid dream, but unfortunately he was definitely awake.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As he began to walk back towards his house, hoping his dad would be able to help him start a search party for Nico, Will couldn’t shake the feeling that something about his hometown was just <em>wrong</em>. He recognised his surroundings well enough, but it was like someone had tried to recreate the place from memory and got some of the smaller details wrong. Familiar shop-fronts were painted the wrong colours, the local gas station had a different name (not to mention, ridiculously low gas prices), and the sign board outside his high school mistakenly said “Congratulations class of ’86!’. Even when he reached his own house, the car parked in the driveway wasn’t the red convertible Apollo cruised around in.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then, when he stuck his keys in the front door, they didn’t work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hey! What the hell are you doing?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The door suddenly swung open and Will’s jaw dropped.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Standing in front of him was his father…but at the same time, it <em>couldn’t</em> have been. Because the young man in the doorway, while undeniably bearing a very strong resemblance to Apollo, couldn’t have been more than a couple of years older than Will himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Another man’s voice could be faintly heard in the background, but Will couldn’t make out what he was saying.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Don’t worry Hyacinthus, it’s not my parents!’ Apollo (<em>was</em> it Apollo, somehow?) called back over his shoulder, ‘Just some delinquent trying to pick the locks or something!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I wasn’t…’ Will stammered. ‘I <em>live</em> here,’ he tried to explain, voice barely above a whisper. ‘Don’t I?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He wanted to cry. Or wake up. Or…<em>something</em>. He couldn’t understand what was happening.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hey,’ another voice interrupted. ‘Who are you?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The other man now standing in the doorway looked about the same age, with dark curly hair and striking indigo eyes. His tanned legs were bare and an oversized Duran Duran t-shirt slipped down over one shoulder.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘<em>I think he must’ve taken something</em>,’ Apollo stage-whispered, then turned back to Will.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Well you’ve definitely got the wrong house, kid, but you also don’t seem to be in any state to go off by yourself again. Come in and we’ll see what we can do for you.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I just…I just have to ask you something,’ Will said, hesitating. It sounded crazy, but he kept seeing that sign outside the high school in his mind’s eye. ‘What year is it?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What year is it?’ Apollo echoed incredulously. He shared a worried look with Hyacinthus.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Dude, it’s 1986.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A week after Will went missing, Nico’s parents had gently warned him to start expecting the worse.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A month after Will went missing, the police stopped looking for him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Three painful years after Will went missing, Nico went with Mr Solace - Apollo - to lay flowers at Will’s grave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I can’t let myself truly believe he’s dead,’ Apollo whispered as he lay the bouquet down. Hyacinths and sunflowers - his own and Will’s respective favourites. ‘He’s out there somewhere, I can feel it.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘So why does he have a goddamn grave?!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nico couldn’t hide the agony in his voice, and to his credit, Apollo didn’t try to argue with him. Instead he placed a gentle hand on Nico’s shoulder and ushered him back to the car.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nico could never quite decide if he actually liked Apollo as a person or not, but there was a certain comfort in being able to share his grief with someone who loved Will as much as he did. They were the only two people who still believed Will might return to them - somehow, somewhere, sometime.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Have I ever told you who I named Will after?’ Apollo asked him as they drove around aimlessly. Sometimes they just did that; drove around together with no purpose or destination, as though they might miraculously come across Will walking down some lonely stretch of highway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I don’t think so,’ Nico replied.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘When I was about the same age you are now, I’d shacked up with my boyfriend, Hyacinthus, while my parents were spending a few months holidaying in Europe. One day, totally out of the blue, this dude turns up on my doorstep, maybe a year or two younger than me. Real messed up though, like he had some weird sort of amnesia. He freaked out when he asked what year it was and I told him it was 1986, saying he wasn’t in the right time, that he was from the future - real crazy talk.’ Apollo paused. ‘I know that doesn’t make him sound like someone you’d want to name your own kid after, but I got him to stay with us for a few days, while we tried to figure out where he’d come from and what do with him, and despite all the crazy talk about time travel, he had the sweetest nature. So kind, and loving. I felt such a strong affection for him almost immediately.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nico raised one eyebrow, looking unamused.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Not like <em>that</em>,’ Apollo chuckled. ‘Actually, truth be told, it was kinda weird that it <em>wasn’t</em> like that, because he was quite ridiculously pretty - all blonde curls and big blue eyes. But I couldn’t feel anything other than protectiveness towards him.’ He turned to Nico with a soft, sad smile. ‘That was the first time I’d ever felt what you’d call a paternal instinct. It’s what made me realise that one day I wanted to become a father.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What happened to him?’ Nico asked. He couldn’t explain why, but something about Apollo’s story made him feel unsettled, like it had awoken some sort of memory he couldn’t quite consciously grasp.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I wish I knew,’ Apollo said sadly. ‘I let him sleep on my sofa for three nights, and then one morning he was just gone, without explanation. Just like my Will. My boy.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Apollo stopped the car and slumped against the steering wheel, his shoulders shuddering with quiet sobs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Will. My boy. My darling boy…’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nico had replayed the story Apollo told him about Will’s namesake over and over in his head until he felt like he was going crazy. Maybe he <em>was</em> crazy, to actually be considering the theory his brain had come up with.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet, something about it made sense. The police had repeatedly told both him and Apollo that there was no evidence of Will either having been abducted, or that he’d run away. It was like he’d just vanished into thin air.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then there was the boy who’d turned up on Apollo’s doorstep in 1986. A boy with blonde curls and big blue eyes, who insisted he was from the future. A boy named Will.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe, Nico thought, the question wasn’t <em>where</em> is Will - but <em>when</em> is Will.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Having a theory about Will’s disappearance was one thing, but knowing how to find him and bring him back was another. Nico devoted years of his life to studying physics and philosophy, hoping they would bring him closer to the answers he sought. He scoured the caves regularly, returning each time with more and more sophisticated scientific equipment to analyse the surrounding energy fields, the levels of radiation, the composition of the soil. The progress he made in understanding what might have happened to Will was aggravatingly slow, but he never gave up, knowing that every new development was bringing him ever so slightly closer to his lost love.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It had been when he was in his second year of university, and dating for the first time, that Nico managed to admit to himself that he’d been in love with Will. He was <em>still</em> in love with Will. He only wished he’d been brave enough to tell him so back when he had the chance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’d fallen asleep in his lab at the university, after too many late nights exploring the caves and running covert tests late at night, and as usual he dreamt of Will. In his dreams they were teenagers again, shyly holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes with all the awkward tenderness of first loves.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In reality, a dark figure in a black rain jacket stood in the doorway of the physics lab, and Nico jolted awake in a panic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Who are you?’ He demanded. ‘What are you doing here?’ He squinted in the bright, fluorescent light, then gasped when he managed to make out the features of the man in the doorway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was…himself, Nico realised with shock. Noticeably older, but the features were all the same: the thick dark hair, the inky eyes, the sharp cheekbones and jawline. Even the stylised sun tattoo on his neck, that he’d gotten in tribute on Will’s 18th birthday, was the same.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘So it’s true,’ Nico whispered. ‘Time…’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Is an illusion. Albeit a stubbornly persistent one.’ A ghost of a smile flickered across his older self’s face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You haven’t travelled through it to quote Einstein to me, though.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘No,’ his older self agreed. ‘I’ve come to bring you something you need.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nico hadn’t realised that his older self had actually been carrying a briefcase until he set it down on the desk, haphazardly knocking a bunch of papers on to the floor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I can’t stay,’ his older self continued. ‘But you don’t need me to. You have all you need now.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Wait!’ Nico demanded, as his older self turned to leave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Your being here now means that you’ve mastered the travel,’ he pointed out angrily. ‘Yet you choose to bring this to me now, ten whole years after Will disappeared. Why not travel back to the day after and give this to me then? Or to before Will disappeared, to stop it from happening in the first place?!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You are incorrectly assuming that time is linear,’ his older self pointed out quietly. ‘That there is a distinction between the past, the present and the future.’ A sad smile flickered across his face. ‘The past is influenced by the future as much as the future is influenced by the past. If Will had not travelled, had not awakened that paternal instinct in his father…’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘…then Will wouldn’t exist at all.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His older self nodded.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I’m sorry for the pain you - <em>we</em> - have suffered all these years. But I promise it will be worth it.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His older self’s hand lingered for a moment on the handle of the briefcase, and it was then that Nico noticed the thick silver band on his left ring finger. A golden sun, identical to the one on his neck, was embedded into its centre.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You’ll soon know what to do,’ were his older self’s parting words as he slipped out the doorway and into the dark corridor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Will tossed and turned on the sofa in his teenaged father’s living room, unable to sleep. How could he possibly sleep peacefully when his whole world had dissolved around him? He was stuck in a time where he wasn’t even supposed to exist yet! And Nico…more than anything or anyone else, he missed Nico.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The boy he’d fallen in love with and had been too afraid to confess his feelings to. A boy who wouldn’t even be born for almost twenty years yet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He sobbed into the cushions, feeling more alone than he ever had before in his life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Having the time machine at last in his possession had only been the first piece of the puzzle. Learning how to use it, and understanding the constraints and consequences of travelling, took months.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He never told Apollo what he’d learned about Will’s disappearance, or how he planned to bring him back. He understood now that Will’s very existence hinged on events unfolding in the past as Apollo had already experienced them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When Nico woke up on the forest floor near the caves, the first thing he noticed what that he was a good four or five inches shorter than he’d grown to be by the age of 25, and definitely skinnier. It felt strange realising that the next time he saw his own reflection, he’d be looking at himself as a fifteen year old.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>None of that mattered, though. What mattered now was that it <em>worked</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nico leapt to his feet and practically sprinted all the way into town, stopping only to grab a newspaper and check the date.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>26th June, 1986.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He nearly wept with relief.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was a scraping at the living room window that awoke Will, just as he’d been drifting off to sleep at last.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>‘Will?’</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That voice. Oh, god…that voice. Even if he was just dreaming, or even hallucinating, hearing that voice again made him want to cry tears of joy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Nico?’ He whispered into the dark room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He heard a choked sob and then a warm, familiar body crashed into his arms, hugging him tight and dripping wet tears on to his cheeks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘It’s me, Will, I’m here,’ Nico whispered. Will looked up and even in the darkness he could see how Nico’s dark eyes glittered like the night sky.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I’ve come to bring you home.’</p>
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